As a real estate agent I never imagined I could work without my car – driving to showings is just part of the job. But with 800 new apartments under development within 300m of the Bees Nees office it looks like the car can stay in the garage!

It’s been a busy few months for new South Brisbane apartment projects and the recently completed Station 16 added 65 new homes to our neighbourhood. Now we have another 8 developments in various stages from pre-selling to under construction, and all of them are within a couple of minutes walk from our Bees Nees offices in Cordelia Street. How good is this?!

Have a sticky-beak at the map:

Here’s a very quick summary:

Station 16 Apartments – 65 apartments completed in late 2012 on Merivale Street, developed by Aria Property

Canvas Apartments – one of the area’s largest with 141 apartments on Boundary Street, with earth works underway, developed by Pradella

Fish Lane Apartments – 48 apartments under construction on the corner of Melbourne and Cordelia Streets

The Edge Apartments – 46 apartments in pre-selling for a site in Manning Street

Arena Apartments – a substantial project in Edmondstone Strret that’s still in Council for approvals but will likely have 191 apartments in 2 towers; pre-selling has commenced

The Plaza – 168 apartments with earth works underway, being developed by Metro Property on the corner of Manning and Russell Streets

Vine Apartments – 56 apartments under construction on the corner of Cordelia and Russell Streets, another project by Aria Property

There’s some interesting themes to these new South Brisbane apartment developments. Despite the introduction of Council’s Local Area Plan of a couple of years back, allowing up to 30 storey buildings on larger sites, the majority of these are just 10 storey. They’re ‘bite-sized’ projects that are more efficient to build and market, and we’re told development financiers are fairly wary of larger projects. So for all the public concern about cloud-topping skyscrapers our neighbourhood is quickly establishing itself as mid-rise territory. Only The Plaza and Arena projects are designed to 12 storey and Canvas at 16.

It’s also interesting to see developers’ approaches to design. The one Brisbane architecture firm, Ellivo, are behind Fish Lane, Edge and Arena and no doubt their close working knowledge of the patch has been an advantage.

Overall these 9 buildings are transforming our neighbourhood from a commercial, concrete and closed-after-6pm environment, hopefully into something with more life to it. A neighbourhood that’s easily within 10 minutes walk of the attractions of the CBD, South Bank and West End deserves some diversity and life and we’re looking forward to seeing these projects completed. Judging by the number of tenants and buyers who call into our office looking for local apartments the future of these buildings looks rosy.

And as the local real estate agents and South Brisbane property management firm we’re looking forward to strolling over to do our client showings!